1. Situation Ethics
“The morality of an action depends on the situation”. Joseph Fletcher (1963)

2. Two stars and a wish
Two things you can remember and one thing you wish you could remember about Situation Ethics!

3. Key Terms Agape Intrinsic good relativism pragmatism personalism
agapeic calculus
Legalism
Antinomianism
teleological

4. (Bishop) William Temple (1881-1944)
‘What acts are right may depend on the circumstances...but there is an absolute obligation to will whatever may on each occasion be right’
"There is only one ultimate and invariable duty, and its formula is "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself".
The only absolute law is that you should do what is right and that what is right is based on love.

5. Joseph Fletcher
Joseph Fletcher ( ) developed the theory in 1960s’ America.
Quoted Rudolf Bultmann – Jesus has no ethics apart from ‘love thy neighbour’
(Mark 12:30-2).

6. Fletcher used this example…
A friend arrived in St. Louis just as a presidential campaign was ending, and the cab driver volunteered his testimony. “I and my father and grandfather before me and their fathers, have always been republicans. ‘I take it you will vote republican?’ ‘No, said the driver, ‘there are times when a man has to push his principles aside and do the right thing.”

7. The Theory of Situation Ethics
Fletcher maintains that there are essentially three different ways of making moral decisions.
Legalistic ethics
Antinomian ethics
Situation ethics

8. Legalistic Ethics Has a set of moral rules and regulations.
Judaism and Christianity both have legalistic ethical traditions.
Fletcher said this runs into problems – life’s complexities require additional laws. Murder, killing in self defence, killing in war, killing unborn human beings etc.
Becomes complex and like a textbook morality that leaves people simply to check the manual to decide what is right and wrong.

9. Antinomian Ethics The reverse of legalistic ethics.
It literally means ‘against law’.
A person using antinomianism doesn’t really use an ethical system at all.
He or she enters decision-making as if each occasion was totally unique. Making a moral decision is a matter of spontaneity.
‘They are, exactly anarchic – i.e. without a rule’.
Fletcher is also critical of this approach.

10. Situationist The middle road
This indicates that Fletcher appreciates the usefulness of both legalism and antinomianism in ethical decision making but thinks that they are extremes.
legalism
Situationism
antinomianism

11. Situation Ethics
One single rule – the rule of agape. This love is not merely an emotion but involves doing what is best for the other person, unconditionally.

12. Situation Ethics
The situationist enters into the moral dilemma with the principles and rules of his or her community.
However, they are prepared to set these rules aside in the situation if LOVE seems better served by doing so.

13. Situation Ethics
‘The situationist follows a moral law or violates it according to love’s need’.
Fletcher
For the situationist, all moral decisions are hypothetical. They depend on what best serves love.
They don’t say that ‘giving to charity is a good thing’. They only say that giving to charity is a good thing if …’
Lying is justified if love is better served by it.

14. Scenario
A women is was suffering from a terminal disease and asked her loving partner to euthanize her. Her partner is now being tried for assisted suicide.
How would legalists, antinomians and situationists judge the partners actions and decide whether the action should be punish or not?

15. Situation Ethics
Situation ethics is sensitive to variety and complexity. It uses principles to illuminate the situation, but not to direct the action.
Fletcher divides his principles into two categories:
The four working principles and
The six fundamental principles

16. Four Working Principles
Fletcher stated that there are four basic ‘working principles’ to Situation Ethics:
Pragmatism – moral actions must work or achieve some realistic goal.
Relativism – there are no fixed laws which must always be obeyed.
Positivism – first place is given to Christian love, rooted in faith.
Personalism – people come first, not rules or ideals.

17. Six Fundamental Principles
There are also six ‘fundamental principles’:
Only one thing is intrinsically good: love.
The ruling norm of Christian decision is love.
Love and justice are the same.
Love wills the neighbour’s good, whether we like him or not.
Only the end justifies the means, nothing else.
Love’s decisions are made situationally, not prescriptively.

18. How would the agapeic calculus work?
The decision of British Intelligence during WW2 to let a number of female agents return to Germany to certain death, in order to keep secret the fact that they had broken German code.
President Truman’s ‘agapeci calculation’ of the effects of dropping an A-bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These killed around 200,000 people. Truman’s aim was to end the war, and it was estimated that winning the war by conventional means would have cost the lives of up to 2 million US servicemen.

19. Strengths of Situation Ethics
Individual cases are judged on their own merit.
Christian system – consistent with the teaching of Jesus. It in some ways suits our multicultural, multi-faith age.
Flexible relativist system – in enables people to make tough decisions in a practical way.
It emphasises love (agape) – surely everyone agrees that’s a good thing.
It avoids conflicts of duty, as one experiences in absolutist systems. Where moral rules collide, Situation Ethics gives a way of resolving the conflict: love.

20. Weaknesses of Situation Ethics
A contradiction – no rules except one!
Christian system – atheists and those of other faiths might not want to follow the example of Jesus.
Unprincipled relativist system – it could allow for almost any action (e.g genocide, child abuse).
‘Love’ is very subjective. People naturally will disagree about what loving behaviour is.
It is difficult to predict the future results of actions – making consequentialist decisions based on love is unreliable.
Fletcher is overly optimistic about the capacity of human beings to make morally correct choices and not to be influenced by personal preferences. Humans need the guidelines offered by rules to avoid moral chaos.

21. Evaluating Situation Ethics
Strengths
Weaknesses
What is YOUR opinion about Situation Ethics?

22. Putting it into practice...
A man with stomach cancer will die in 6 months without treatment that will cost $40 every 5 days. He must give up work and borrow on his life insurance to survive for 3 years if he follows this course of action. However, if he refuses treatment he will die with his life insurance valid, providing his family with $ after his death. If he refuses treatment it is tantamount to suicide, but if he accepts it his family will be heavily in debt after his death.
What should he do? What is the loving thing in terms of his intention and the consequences for others?

23. When the Americans were attempting to decide whether to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki the committee responsible for advising President Truman was divided. Some were totally opposed. Others felt that the Japanese should be warned about the bomb's potential by dropping it first on an uninhabited part of the country. Others still felt that the dropping of the bomb was the only way to ensure the end of the war. In the event the bomb was dropped on civilian and military targets.
Was this right?

24. What you need to know to answer a question on Situation Ethics
What it is, the strengths and weaknesses.
Context of Fletcher’s theory (1960’s America).
Philosophers who have contributed to this strand of ethics
(Fletcher, Tillich)

25. How to revise Read, anything you can find!
Mind maps, flash cards, post its
Practice questions (plans and timed essays)
Explain the theory of Situation Ethics out loud to someone (teach it)

26. Discussion
A rich man asked a lovely young woman if she would sleep the night with him. She said ‘No’. He then asked if she would do it for £ She said ‘Yes!’
Is it wrong to have sex for money:
To survive?
For luxury purchases?
To fund a life-saving operation for a friend or relative?
In each case, explain your answer.
Why might your answers for a, b and c differ?

27. Situation Ethics - Revision
Aim: To consolidate knowledge and evaluation of Situation Ethics

28. WJEC 2. Situation Ethics: Joseph Fletcher
Candidates should be able to explain the terms 'relativism', 'consequential', 'teleological' with reference to this theory and briefly outline why Fletcher rejected antinomianism and legalism.  They should also be able to demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of Fletcher's four working principles of pragmatism, relativism, positivism and personalism and his six fundamental principles based on the concept of agape.
Candidates should consider what evidence is there in the New Testament which gives credence to Fletcher's view that Situation Ethics was the approach adopted by some Christian leaders in the New Testament. For example, the healing of the paralysed man on the Sabbath (John Chapter 5) being a good example of personalism, the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke Chapter 10) being a good example of 'Love wills the good of others, regardless of feelings', or 1 Corinthians 13 appearing to support the principle of 'only the principle of love provides a reasonable base by which to make judgements of right and wrong'. Students could also make brief reference to a similar approach to ethics being adopted by other scholars such as William Temple and Paul Tillich.
Candidates should also be able to show that they can apply Fletcher's Ten Principles to either an example they have chosen themselves or to an issue taken from section 4.
It is also expected that candidates will be familiar with inherent difficulties of Situation Ethics (e.g. the subjectiveness of the concept of what is a loving action), as well as its advantages (e.g. it allows individuals the freedom to make decisions for themselves based upon love) and to be able to support their statements with reasons and/or evidence.
The degree to which Situation Ethics is compatible with the traditional ethical teaching of one world faith should be considered in some detail.

29. Keywords
Relativism - the doctrine that knowledge, truth, and morality exist in relation to culture, society, or historical context, and are not absolute.
Consequential – the consequences of an action solely determine whether it is the right thing to do.
Telelogical - (teleological from Greek telos, “end”; logos, “science”), theory of morality that derives duty or moral obligation from what is good or desirable as an end to be achieved.

30. Copy these quotes into your notes and explain what each one means
'Love alone is always good and right in every situation.' - Joseph Fletcher
'There can be and often is a conflict between law and love.' - Fletcher
'Too much law means the obliteration of the individual; too much individualism means a weakening of the law...there is a place for law as the encourager of morality.' - William Barclay
'Love is the ultimate law because it is the negation of law; it is absolute because it concerns everything concrete.' - Paul Tillich
Situation Ethics is 'an individualistic and subjective appeal to the concrete circumstances of actions to justify decisions in opposition to the Natural Law of God's revealed will.' - Pope Pius XII

31. Paul Tillich
‘The law of love is the ultimate law because it is the negation of law; it is absolute because it concerns everything concrete...The absolutism of love is its power to go into the concrete situation, to discover what is demanded by the predicament of the concrete to which it turns. Therefore, love can never become fanatical in a fight for the absolute, or cynical under the impact of the relative.’
Paul Tillich, 1951.
Explain what Tillich means.
If Situation Ethics is a relativistic theory, why is Tillich talking about absolutism?

32. Evidence
Read the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). Summarise it and explain how it links to Situation Ethics.
Read 1 Corinthians 13 and explain how it links to Situation Ethics.
Look back through your notes – do you know how you would like the healing on the Sabbath (John 5) to explain and justify Situation Ethics?

33. How did you go about answering this question?
B) ‘Situation Ethics promotes bad behaviour.’
Assess this view.

34. Read these articles and make relevant notes
situation-ethics-a
1336/vardy_revision_situation_ethics.pdf

35. Evaluating Situation Ethics
Aim: To consolidate knowledge of Situation Ethics in preparation for the exam

36. John Robinson stated ‘Situation ethics is an ethic for humanity to come of age’ (1963)
Copy this quote down.
What does it mean? Put it into your own words.
Do you agree with Robinson? Why/why not?

37. To do:
Read the hand-out of Temple and Bonhoeffer. Make notes on these two philosophers, and explain how their work influenced Fletcher and his theory.
Read the hand-out about Robinson (1960s) and Barclay (1970s). Work in pairs so one of you does one philosopher, then explain what they are saying to the other person. Make notes as you go.
Can you explain the influences on Joseph’s Fletcher’s theory and Barclay’s criticisms?

38. Evaluate - Just a Christian ethic?
Moral judgments are decisions, not conclusions- they are unique to each situation, not general rules
Decisions ought to be made situationally, not prescriptively (ie not in advance, judgementally)
We should seek the well-being of people, rather than love principles for principles'-sake
Only one thing is intrinsically good, namely, love: nothing else ("Love is the ultimate law" - Paul Tillich)

39. Part A Questions
A) Explain why Fletcher rejects ‘antinomianism’ and ‘legalism’ in favour of ‘agape’ love.
A) Explain why Situation Ethics is considered to be a consequentialist and a relativistic theory.
A) Explain religious arguments supporting the use of Situation Ethics in making moral decisions.
A) Outline the ethical theory known as Situation Ethics.
A) Outline the four working principles and six fundamental principles of Situation Ethics
Hand these out to students

40. B) ‘Situation Ethics promotes bad behaviour.’ Assess this view.
B) ‘Situation Ethics does not work in today’s society.’ Assess this view.
B) ‘Situation Ethics provides a poor basis for making moral decisions.’ Assess this view.
B) ‘Situation Ethics is not compatible with a religious approach to moral decision making.’ Assess this view.
B) ‘Situation Ethics promotes bad behaviour.’ Assess this view.
B) ‘Situation Ethics as a relativistic and teleological theory works well in today’s society.’ Assess this view.
Plan an answer to a couple of these questions, and then pick one to write a full answer to.